If he plays every game, he could bang those out by the age of 44, maybe even 40 if you count cup games.
Interesting theory being discussed by the head of medical for Gloucestershire on the cricket commentary. He is saying that athletes only have a finite amount of miles on the clock and the ones that start playing professionally at an early age (16/17) tend to burn out by their early to mid 30s. He mentioned Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott as examples.
Plenty of players who debuted later who burned our in their early/mid 30s, as well. Mostly, IMO, it's that football (and the Premier League in particular) has become a much more attacking -- and ground-bound -- sport than it was 25 years ago, and one of the consequences of that is greater demands on a player's fitness. As injuries inevitably add up, maintaining that peak gets harder and harder. Especially for players of the ilk of Walcott, who are reliant on their quickness. There are absolutely outliers, but whenever I hear people talk about players 'just reaching their prime' in their late 20s, I wonder what decade they're living in...
Apparently Saints offers the 3rd best away day in England! Away Days Index: What is the Best Football Ground in the UK? (betting.com)
My thoughts exactly! Can't really see what else it would be tbh. ****/dull ground Lack of decent pubs nearby Awful to get away from afterwards Not much else interesting of note in City If I was an away fan I'd have it no where near the top.
There's far worse grounds to get away from than St Mary's. I admit it's not ideal for train travel as the station is a good half hour walk (but you do pass pubs) but there's loads of places to park nearby and it doesn't take too long to reach the motorway afterwards.
I've always found getting away in a car horrendous tbh. The only worse ones I've experienced have been bigger grounds. Depends on direction of travel I suppose. The train station is close though admittedly. Closer to 20 than 30 mins I'd say. One good thing for away fans I suppose is that you get a nice big away end behind the goal where it's easy to make a lot of noise and drown out the home support.
Villa is by far the worst ground to get away from that I've been to. When I leave St Mary's I go via Bassett Avenue (which is busy but moves) or Thomas Lewis Way which is fine. Either way I'm home inside an hour of leaving the ground (without leaving early).
As soon as you see they rated West Ham in the top 20 you can write it off - especially as they scored them 8.8 for local bars!!
I found Villa easy but then I parked at Star City a good 30 minute walk away. Was back on M6 within 10 minutes of reaching my car. Admittedly though I did leave 10 minutes early cos we were 4-0 down and showing no signs of giving the fans something to cheer, so maybe not the best example
What are everybody's thoughts on here for the best away days? For me I would say that Fulham and Brighton are always a good day out (although getting to and from the Amex is a bit of a pain). I haven't done Newcastle or Leeds yet though which I guess would be good and Forest should be a good one this season.
Chelsea is a good away day as it's quite an old fashioned ground and it's dead easy to get to. Spurs is good just because of how good their stadium is. I liked Leeds last season - cracking atmosphere. Forest should be good. Bournemouth should be fun as well.
Fulham Palace Burnley Leeds Everton Are among my favourites. I really enjoyed Brentford too. I'd probably include Bournemouth if we weren't cattled around like criminals and restricted where we could drink.
Not been to Villa park, but Spurs if you’re going by train is a nightmare. Amazing stadium, but a ballache to get home from.
Background piece on Joe Shields, new head of recruitment: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ring-Joe-Shields-head-senior-recruitment.html
